Micrometeorites pretenders (all impostors)
We have been lastly trying to find more micrometeorites. In the South of Gran Canaria, it is almost raining during the winter only. At this time there are some roads near Mogan where the asphalt has not drained the rains for months.
Many micrometeorites fell on this roads during this time. And they are still there.
Using an extremely powerful magnet it might be possible to find them. The magnet we have been using is a dangerous 1000 Kg powerful neodynium magnet.
We enfold the magnet in a plastic bag in an attempt to make easier to unstick metal particles from the magnet in the future.
Then we put the magnet under one of our minivan, separated about 8cm from the asphalt.
We drove the GC-605 slowly and remove the magnet later. So far so good: it worked !
With some difficulties we managed to separate the metal particles from the magnet. The power of the magnet attracting particles was much stronger than the plastic bag which fall to pieces.
Then we studied the particles with our microscopes.
Unfortunately it seems this attempt to find more micrometeorites was unsuccessful (still an interesting result). Here are some pictures of micrometeorites impostors found on the road GC-605 in Gran Canaria on 11/06/2019:
Pretender 1.
This one is quite easy to identify. This is a common iron oxide spherule, probably anthropic. Here is a close up:
Let us zoom it again...
Nice! But not a micrometeorite.
Pretender 2:
Even with this simple photo done with a mobile phone it is already possible to see what's going wrong with the pretender. Let us make a zoom with the microscope.
This is a twin formation. Micrometeorites are travelling alone. This is not coming from the space.
Pretender 3:
This is the smallest one:
We go on with a picture from the microscope.
This one is our best pretender. It has the right color, very slightly elongated shape and some specks that look like metal beads. We tried to zoom again on this tiny specks.
Unfortunately we could not see any iron sulfide rim nor a spherical or at least symmetrical shape of this tiny specks. We had to discard this pretender as well.
We will make more attempts soon and we will report the results (even if negative) so remain connected!
Thanks
GC-605 road in South Gran Canaria
Many micrometeorites fell on this roads during this time. And they are still there.
Using an extremely powerful magnet it might be possible to find them. The magnet we have been using is a dangerous 1000 Kg powerful neodynium magnet.
1000Kg powerful magnet
We enfold the magnet in a plastic bag in an attempt to make easier to unstick metal particles from the magnet in the future.
Then we put the magnet under one of our minivan, separated about 8cm from the asphalt.
The magnet in place
We drove the GC-605 slowly and remove the magnet later. So far so good: it worked !
The harvest
With some difficulties we managed to separate the metal particles from the magnet. The power of the magnet attracting particles was much stronger than the plastic bag which fall to pieces.
Metallic particles
Then we studied the particles with our microscopes.
Unfortunately it seems this attempt to find more micrometeorites was unsuccessful (still an interesting result). Here are some pictures of micrometeorites impostors found on the road GC-605 in Gran Canaria on 11/06/2019:
Pretender 1.
This one is quite easy to identify. This is a common iron oxide spherule, probably anthropic. Here is a close up:
Let us zoom it again...
Nice! But not a micrometeorite.
Pretender 2:
Even with this simple photo done with a mobile phone it is already possible to see what's going wrong with the pretender. Let us make a zoom with the microscope.
This is a twin formation. Micrometeorites are travelling alone. This is not coming from the space.
Pretender 3:
This is the smallest one:
We go on with a picture from the microscope.
This one is our best pretender. It has the right color, very slightly elongated shape and some specks that look like metal beads. We tried to zoom again on this tiny specks.
Unfortunately we could not see any iron sulfide rim nor a spherical or at least symmetrical shape of this tiny specks. We had to discard this pretender as well.
We will make more attempts soon and we will report the results (even if negative) so remain connected!
Thanks
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